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Making Ads Pay: Timeless Tips for Successful Copywriting
Why does one ad succeed, while another fails? This classic by a veteran copywriter analyzes hundreds of profitable ads, offering many side-by-side comparisons between similar but not equally effective ads. These analyses yield principles, procedures, tips, and practical suggestions — each tested with decades of experience — that can be immediately applied to every medium and style of advertising.
During his six-decade career at the top advertising firm of BBDO (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn), author John Caples pioneered the techniques of effective copy-testing. All copywriters, from cub to chief, can benefit from his helpful suggestions. "This is a valuable textbook for every student of advertising and every writer of ads," declared the Christian Science Monitor, and Booklist pronounced it "of interest to anyone interested in what makes our business economy work."
During his six-decade career at the top advertising firm of BBDO (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn), author John Caples pioneered the techniques of effective copy-testing. All copywriters, from cub to chief, can benefit from his helpful suggestions. "This is a valuable textbook for every student of advertising and every writer of ads," declared the Christian Science Monitor, and Booklist pronounced it "of interest to anyone interested in what makes our business economy work."
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1957
About the author
John Caples
21 books24 followersBorn in New York, May 1, 1900; graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, 1924; began his career in advertising at Ruthrauff & Ryan, 1925; moved to Barton, Durstine & Osborn (later Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn) in 1927; retired from BBDO, 1983; died in New York, June 10, 1990.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 14, 2017
Essential reading for students of marketing. Caples starts the book with a recount of his first day on the job. I thought that was awesome to bring his own personal narrative into this mostly informational book. Caples has lots of great ideas and does an excellent job dissecting the processes he used on his most successful ads.
February 10, 2019
Chapter 8 is golden. The beginning is very useful, but the ending isn’t so great.
Chapters 1-7 is mostly principles.
Chapter 8 is chock full of examples of those principles applied.
Chapters 9-end is mostly tactics, can get somewhat boring and outdated.
Chapters 1-7 is mostly principles.
Chapter 8 is chock full of examples of those principles applied.
Chapters 9-end is mostly tactics, can get somewhat boring and outdated.
April 24, 2021
A friend who used this book to sharpen his copywriting skills recommended this one to me. I suppose it's a decent book, but I'm not as impressed as I hoped to be. Caples' advice is solid enough, and I'm sure it was amazing for the '50s, but it's partly outdated (for one - we can actually measure a lot more with online marketing) and partly obvious (every marketeer can - or should be able to - dream AIDA).
The one takeaway - and one thing that is gaining tons of popularity lately - is to A/B test, A/B test, and A/B test some more. Another one is that copywriting is a craft, not an art. Or first a craft.
The chapter on what performs well in ads has some interesting insights but mainly shows that it's incredibly hard to predict what works and is just another argument for continuous testing.
Not a bad book, but doesn't make my list of favorites.
How I rate non-fiction:
5 stars - Great. Well-written, thought-provoking, and possibly life-changing. Not just a book worth reading, a book worth having on your shelf.
4 stars - Good. Interesting, generally well-researched, relevant.
3 stars - Mediocre. Possibly a good idea, but so-so execution. Poor structure, or somewhat flawed argumentation. Unoriginal.
2 stars - Poor. One or several of the following: poor writing, farfetched, repetitive, obvious. Possibly didn't finish.
1 star - Rubbish. Total waste of time. This book has no redeeming qualities - lacks logic, all over the place, badly researched, potentially harmful. Most likely didn't finish.
The one takeaway - and one thing that is gaining tons of popularity lately - is to A/B test, A/B test, and A/B test some more. Another one is that copywriting is a craft, not an art. Or first a craft.
The chapter on what performs well in ads has some interesting insights but mainly shows that it's incredibly hard to predict what works and is just another argument for continuous testing.
Not a bad book, but doesn't make my list of favorites.
How I rate non-fiction:
5 stars - Great. Well-written, thought-provoking, and possibly life-changing. Not just a book worth reading, a book worth having on your shelf.
4 stars - Good. Interesting, generally well-researched, relevant.
3 stars - Mediocre. Possibly a good idea, but so-so execution. Poor structure, or somewhat flawed argumentation. Unoriginal.
2 stars - Poor. One or several of the following: poor writing, farfetched, repetitive, obvious. Possibly didn't finish.
1 star - Rubbish. Total waste of time. This book has no redeeming qualities - lacks logic, all over the place, badly researched, potentially harmful. Most likely didn't finish.
April 5, 2022
There are some useful and timeless principles in here but the first few chapters made my eyes roll. The example Caples uses is so over-the-top and ridiculous: "The Art of Personal Magnetism" book copy. It contains such groan-inducing lines as, "experience the change from one personality to a magnetic new one!" Please. Give me a break. What book is going to change your personality? I understand that "skillful exaggeration" can be useful in copywriting but this isn't skillful; to my mind, it comes across as ridiculous, disingenuous and borderline sleazy.
Also, money back guarantees aren't plausible or practical much of the time: insurance policies and other "intangible" products, for example. These normally cannot have such guarantees and yet Caples seems to think that this can be a general principle. The idea of "story-based ads" has some merit but the verbosity of many of these ads isn't so practical in the modern era. The concepts that still hold true are: be clear who you're addressing, write an interesting (but not too "artsy fartsy") headline, continue the theme of that headline throughout the copy and make a clear offer in which it is easy to take action. "They laughed when I sat down at the piano" is indeed a creative ad with a strong headline but the verbosity of the full ad isn't so practical today.
The "Ways to make it easy to buy" chapter hasn't aged well and is skippable because most things are just buy online nowadays anyway. We cannot fault Caples for this as he was writing long before the Internet but it likely doesn't have to be included in modern editions.
Also, money back guarantees aren't plausible or practical much of the time: insurance policies and other "intangible" products, for example. These normally cannot have such guarantees and yet Caples seems to think that this can be a general principle. The idea of "story-based ads" has some merit but the verbosity of many of these ads isn't so practical in the modern era. The concepts that still hold true are: be clear who you're addressing, write an interesting (but not too "artsy fartsy") headline, continue the theme of that headline throughout the copy and make a clear offer in which it is easy to take action. "They laughed when I sat down at the piano" is indeed a creative ad with a strong headline but the verbosity of the full ad isn't so practical today.
The "Ways to make it easy to buy" chapter hasn't aged well and is skippable because most things are just buy online nowadays anyway. We cannot fault Caples for this as he was writing long before the Internet but it likely doesn't have to be included in modern editions.
December 30, 2025
Starts off strong with timeless guidelines for any copywriter. Emphasis on thr keyword guidelines because Caples admits that you can't quantify everything and become the master of copy with a set quantum of experience.
Frequently quoting examples was good practice as it reinforces the demonstrated ideas.
However it also repackages its main principles in the 2nd half, which isn't helpful as some of its steps aren't relevant for a modern reader.
It didn't have to be this long but his anecdotal examples make the reading less dry.
Frequently quoting examples was good practice as it reinforces the demonstrated ideas.
However it also repackages its main principles in the 2nd half, which isn't helpful as some of its steps aren't relevant for a modern reader.
It didn't have to be this long but his anecdotal examples make the reading less dry.
November 18, 2018
On par with books by David Ogilvy (highly recommend on the topic of sales/ marketing). Market and time tested basic principles exactly what one should look for instead of pseudo-science over-complicated crap which describes 99% of marketing/ sales literature today.
As he writes marketing techniques change but human nature always and forever stays the same.
As he writes marketing techniques change but human nature always and forever stays the same.
February 28, 2017
Brilliant
June 15, 2022
Muito bomm
May 31, 2012
A timeless classic. So good it was worth paying the library overdue fees because it took quite a while to get through our library system!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews